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How do you decide whether to give an app a chance or not?

Sterling Keys (translation)2013-12-15T02:00:01ZDec 15, 2013

Sterling Keys
From all the way over on Vancouver Island, Sterling Keys started off his smartphone adventure with an HTC S710 equipped with Windows Mobile and knew there had to be something better. Over the next few years, and countless different operating systems, he has finally found his home on Android.

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There are tons and tons and tons of apps out there. For every category of apps, there is a ton of options to choose from. So, how do you decide which app is going to get to grace your mobile device? How does a particular app catch your attention over all the rest? Is it the rating in the store? Whether it’s free or paid? Maybe it is the reviews you read everywhere?

So, what determines the one you’re going to try out? Do you trust the rating system? As we’ve seen recently with the Blackberry messenger fiasco, the rating system can easily be gamed and votes can be bought. Maybe then it is the number of total downloads that helps steer you in the right direction? Perhaps it is the reputation of the developer? And so, the eternal question rages on: How do you choose your apps?

Comments

I find that I usually download 2-3 apps in the same genre based on ratings and reviews. From there, I go ahead and test them out for a few hours or days. By the end of the time period I've usually whittled it down to one that I prefer over the others and they get deleted.

It's really hard to say, what keeps me from installing an app. First of all, I look at the rating and what the comment's are. You can sometimes spot, wether they are the kind of people that are in to sequrity, or those that just keep installing whatever they can get their hands on. Second I look at the permissions, and this is were most apps really fail. A clock that want to use internet and the phone. Or even worse. Let me say this. 98 to 99% of all apps that i look at, never get on my device. Call me paranoid, because I am. I just don't wan't anything to suck all my ressources and drain my battery too. I wan't control with my device, simple as that. And yes. I know life is more easy on the iPlatform. Yet I still prefer android, as a complete "package". Life is indeed strange, I must say.

Personally, it all depends on the popularity of the developers, The positive feedback for similar devices, how impressively written the description is and how well showcased the game or app is.

I've noticed every game or app I download usually is massive in size, developers have their own website and the layout of the particular apps I download is pretty high quality and not just thrown together.It's all about presentation. If an app seems dull or low quality app icon is used, I tend to just stay away.

It's really a combination of multiple factors. A holistic decision, if you will.

The quickest thing that will run me off, however, is a high pricetag with no demo version. Thanks to Google's 15 minute refund window (No, I haven't forgotten when it was longer), I refuse to try out paid apps without demo versions unless there is a MOUNTAIN of evidence in favor of the app.